Russia Acts To Stem Caucasus Revolt

Yeltsin, Putin Map Response Over Dagestan

MOSCOW — Russian President Boris Yeltsin's latest surprise choice for prime minister immediately confronted his first order of business Tuesday: the fighting between government forces and separatist Islamic rebels in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan.

Vladimir Putin, the 46-year-old former KGB spy, joined his political patron, Yeltsin, to map their response to the latest bloodshed threatening to spread across the volatile Caucasus Mountains region.

Islamic guerrillas on Tuesday declared Dagestan an independent state. They have taken over mountain villages near the border with Chechnya, killed several Russian soldiers and caused thousands of people to flee.

After four days of fighting, Russian army officials said Tuesday that the military had gained the upper hand.

"Order will be established within the next few days," Putin said. "A package of measures for imposing order and discipline in Dagestan has been prepared, was approved today by the president and will be implemented."

Independent confirmation of Russian military gains is not possible. During the Chechen war of 1994-96, which cost tens of thousands of lives and left the capital, Grozny, in ruins, military information on the war often proved inaccurate.

The fighting in Dagestan is the most immediate concern for Putin, a relative unknown named by Yeltsin on Monday to replace Sergei Stepashin as premier. But there are other political confrontations to come.

That was the theme the Kremlin wanted to get across Tuesday in a television moment with Yeltsin vigorously shaking Putin's hand and asking about his mood. Putin, the somber former intelligence chief, replied, "Combative."

Putin will need that attitude in coming months: He still must win approval as prime minister in a parliament hostile to Yeltsin, then find a way to work with federal deputies if he hopes to get any laws passed. The Kremlin also is counting on Putin to challenge better known and politically more experienced rivals who aim to take power from Yeltsin through elections next year.

Putin must assemble a team capable of dealing with Russia's economic problems. Direct foreign investment must increase. Inefficient banks and businesses, some of them linked to Russian organized crime, must be restructured or closed. Promising ventures need credit and other financial assistance.

Despite pledges from the Kremlin and plans from the last four prime ministers going back to March 1998, Russia still spends more than it takes in from taxes. Though Moscow recently obtained $4.5 billion in new loans from the International Monetary Fund, successful negotiations with other lenders are critical if the nation hopes to escape further default on its long list of debts.

Politically, Putin is expected to maintain stability while somehow advancing the Kremlin's fortunes.

Russians go to the polls in four months to elect a new national parliament. Favored to control most of the seats are the Communists and a center-left coalition linking Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and powerful regional leaders. Strong Kremlin backers, whose numbers are dwindling, could have trouble winning any representation.

Yeltsin is backing Putin in the presidential race next summer, though few outside the Kremlin's walls believe the politically inexperienced bureaucrat has much of a chance.

Analysts said Putin has two things in his favor: support of the domestic intelligence agency that he headed and unwavering loyalty to Yeltsin. Neither endears him much to the public.

Unlike previous Yeltsin nominees, Putin is not expected to face much of a battle over his confirmation in the Duma, the lower house of parliament.

Deputies keen on re-election in December are loath to rouse the Kremlin's ire. Nor do they want to divert their attention and resources from their election campaigns, which officially opened Tuesday.

Putin needs only a simple majority in the 450-seat Duma. The first of three possible votes on his nomination is scheduled for Monday.

"In my view, the Duma can support Putin simply because he is a continuation of Stepashin," said Communist deputy Anatoly Lukyanov. "This is practically a technical vote, a formality. It seems to me that no deep emotions are going to be displayed."

Putin said he plans no major changes in the way Stepashin ran things. He wants Russia to continue its march to a free-market economy, uneven as that has been, while tempering things with a healthy dose of government regulation. Many government jobs seem safe.

"I don't have any intentions to scatter the Cabinet," Putin said. "There will be no global changes."

Officials say Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and other leaders of the so-called power ministries will remain. Such continuity could prove important as Putin tries to stamp out the unrest in Dagestan.

The appearance of the independence declaration by Islamic guerrillas, shown to reporters in Grozny, was seen as a sign that Chechen warlords who fought Russia to a humiliating defeat plan to fully back the Dagestan revolt.

By Tuesday, the rebels reportedly were within a mile of Botlikh, the main town in the mountain valley where fighting has raged since they seized several villages over the weekend.

Moscow police said they were beefing up security at railway stations and other facilities in the capital. City police in other regions reportedly were taking similar steps.

Representatives of a body called the Islamic Shura, or council, of Dagestan told reporters in Grozny that they had adopted the independence declaration at a meeting in Dagestani villages under the guerrillas' control.

A Dagestani police spokeswoman said the region's authorities did not recognize the Shura as a legitimate body. Sympathizers had been arrested, she said.

Dagestani officials said Russian forces had cleared Islamic militants from two villages in the southwest Tsumadin district and had encircled the rebels in two villages in the Botlikh region.